A family from Wakefield, Que. is on the run, as they embark on an adventure that will see them cover some 17,000 kilometres over 10 months in an effort to raise awareness about health, fitness and turning dreams into reality.
The idea was first hatched by Ed Chicoine, the patriarch of the family, as a way to promote his new book, Tune up and Thrive.
"When it was being decided and I was sitting here at the end of the table and listening to it all I thought what's happening here? Our life is going crazy," Ed's wife Gaye told CTV, recalling that first dinner-table conversation.
Unlike most families, however, that amounted to a ringing endorsement for the idea.
"When people tell us we're crazy, I always think we're on to something good," Ed said.
And even though Ed, who's an avid marathon runner, was initially planning to embark on the adventure by himself, his six adult children wouldn't hear of it.
"I finally said that I wanted to run cross-country and the whole family joined in," son Jake told Â鶹´«Ã½ Ottawa. "And I was like, 'Woah, what's happening.' So it really became a dream right when he first said it and I couldn't get it out of my mind."
Neither adventures nor living dreams are new to this family who packed up their van in 1997 for a vacation to South America. That road trip wound up lasting more than three years, and they even wrote a book about their experiences.
"Our family is pretty amazing and I know we're really different so I just want to share that with the whole world. You know, everyone can have what we have, they just have to decide to do it," Dayna Chicoine told CTV.
Besides demonstrating that seemingly outlandish ideas are in fact possible, Ed says the run is ultimately intended to transform the way people view health.
"Our mission, if I can use that term, is to encourage and inspire people is to change and to have better choices. That's kind of our goal in this journey we'er calling the Marathon of Health," Ed said.
If that name sounds familiar, it should. That's because the family adventure was inspired by Terry Fox's 1980 Marathon of Hope.
The Chicoines have started their run with a dip into the Pacific Ocean in Vancouver, and intend to make it to the Atlantic Ocean on Canada's East Coast before heading south for Florida. From there, they'll head west to California and eventually make their way back to British Columbia.
In total, the plan is to cover some 17,000 kilometres in as little as 9 months.
While they're leaving behind the family-run grocery store, Ed Chicoine's skills as a chiropractor should serve the family well as they each takes turns running up to 20 kilometres a day for almost 300 days in a row.
And when they eventually return home to Wakefield, they plan to donate whatever funds they've raised to organizations that support fitness and children.
With files from CTV Ottawa and CTV British Columbia
